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ARU toot the horn ahead of Strategic Plan announcement today

David Pocock has been ruled out with an eye injury. (Photo: AFP)
11th April, 2016
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Ahead of their announcement of their five-year strategic plan, the Australian Rugby Union has hailed the growth of the game in twin press releases.

The releases trumpet the success of the key initiatives of the ARU, as well as identify the growth of the women’s game as a major opportunity for the game in the future.

It also shows what kind of deficit faced the ARU, showing an almost $10 million loss in the financial records for 2015. However, with the new Super Rugby broadcast deal bringing in enhanced revenue, ARU CEO Bill Pulver and his crew are confident of turning it around from 2016.

Just how much in additional revenue? Well, it goes to the tune of an extra $170 million over five years, which is more than enough to clear up any deficit the ARU were operating at.

As it says in the release, a major highlight was:

– Media rights contract was executed; $285m from 2016-2020, equating to $170m in additional revenue – a 148% increase on revenue achieved from the previous media rights arrangement (2011-2015).

To their credit, the ARU are forward in acknowledging this, but the news about the Rebels doesn’t bode well for their work this year at the Western Force.

As projected, it [2015] was a financially challenging year. As part of the Annual General Meeting, the ARU announced the underlying business generated a deficit of $4.8m, due to only holding two Tests held in Australia (with subsequent impacts on broadcast, sponsorship and match day revenue), while the full financial result was a deficit of $9.8m (2014: $6.3m deficit), primarily due to financial assistance provided to the Melbourne Rebels.

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A decline in club XVs participation is also of concern, though it’s offset slightly by some of the ARU’s other initiatives which saw overall participation grow.

So we get to the releases, which tell us that “2015 [a Rugby World Cup year] was a year of consolidation and planning”.

Here are the programs the ARU has said it is excited about:

– New grassroots programs, including VIVA7s (non-contact Sevens), Game On and National Rugby Week, are increasing participation

– Total participation increased by 2.7% (18,857 new participants) with an extra 10.7% (25,866 participants) playing more than five games/structured Rugby sessions.

– Women’s Sevens participation grew by 33%, and as it’s the fastest growing female team sport in the world, it continues to represent a major growth opportunity for the future.

They also hailed the growth of the digital channels (Wallabies Facebook and Twitter, as well as the redesigned website, as things that will enable them to develop deeper relationships with Australian Rugby fans.

Aside from the Wallabies coming second at the Rugby World Cup, the highlights were:

– Men’s and Women’s Sevens teams both qualified for Rio and are looming as Olympic medal contenders, especially the Women’s team following their three consecutive 2015/2016 World Series victories.

– Pathways were strengthened with new national Sevens competitions, the reinstatement of the National Women’s XVs Championships, and the second seasons of the Junior Gold Cup and National Rugby Championship.

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Now we await the strategic plan, which will be announced today at 10am AEST. The goal of it is “To inspire all Australians to enjoy our great global game”, which is an impressive aim.

ARU Chairman Cameron Clyne said: “Investing confidently in our strategic priorities will place us in the best possible position to achieve our vision: to inspire all Australians to enjoy our great global game.”

There’s that great global game again….

“Certainly there are substantial challenges facing us, but there are also significant opportunities. The popularity of men’s and women’s XVs and Sevens Rugby is growing worldwide and the 2016 Olympics will showcase Rugby to an even wider global audience.

“At last year’s World Cup, the Qantas Wallabies recaptured the imagination of the Australian public, making their fans and the entire nation proud. Michael Cheika, Stephen Moore and the team have an exciting twelve months ahead of them with three Tests against England, the Bledisloe Cup and Rugby Championship, and a Grand Slam Tour to end the year.

“At the grassroots level, a decline in Club XVs participation was balanced by growth in Club Sevens, non-contact VIVA7s and schools Rugby programs, which led to an overall increase in total Rugby participation. Rugby grew in the non-traditional states and territories, however the game will need to continue to invest in new formats, such as VIVA7s, to continue this growth.

“Australian Rugby’s pathways programs continue to be enhanced providing stronger links between our grassroots and professional men’s and women’s teams.”

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The ARU also released a series of ‘key insights’, which are worth examining.

Key Insights:
– Sevens is a key area for growth: 149 new Sevens teams in Queensland and more than 84 new teams in NSW
– Women: Female participation in Sevens increased by 33.4%
– Club XVs: 7.6% decline in Club XVs balanced by a growth of 8.1% in Club Sevens, and grassroots participation growth through Game On and VIVA7s. The number of Club XVs teams grew in all states outside NSW, Queensland and ACT.
– Initiatives for growth (VIVA7s, Game On and National Rugby Week) showing encouraging results in first year.

It then goes onto talk about ‘rugby experiences’, whatever that means – but much of the meat of the story is that normal club participation is down, while some of the other initiatives are meaning rugby has a broader reach.

What that means for the future of club rugby in Australia, particularly given recent debates around funding, is unclear.

We’ll leave the last word for Bill.

“Rugby reached new participants in 2016, and critically, most of them were young and around half of them were female. Growing the game requires a focus on making Rugby more accessible, and initiatives such as VIVA 7s, Game On and National Rugby Week are enabling us to expand Rugby’s footprint so that it becomes embedded in the public and private school systems.”

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